eli5: In bootstrapping, how is the compiler written in the other langauge such that it can then compile the original language i.e. the bootstrap compiler?

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So I’ve already posted this question on Stack Overflow, but I wanted to ask it here as well, since I am not sure if they will simply say it is a duplicate (even though the other answers from other questions don’t answer what I asked in a way that helps me).

[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78539284/in-bootstrapping-how-is-the-compiler-written-in-the-other-langauge-such-that-it](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78539284/in-bootstrapping-how-is-the-compiler-written-in-the-other-langauge-such-that-it)

So I was wondering if there were direct examples people could give of how the bootstrap compiler is actually written such that it actually represents the language you want to write in another language, because my head can’t wrap itself around it and most sources are fairly vague and just assume you know how it is done.

Hell, maybe if people try and explain it in a metaphorical way and walk me through how the bootstrap compiler is written to represent language X in language Y, that might help too, since I am not a programmer, but this concept is stressing me out from knowing I don’t understand it.

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17 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Compilers are not special, or magic.
A compiler is just a program that transform text input (the code) into another format (binary, the executable). This transformation isn’t special, you can write a program for it in any generic language.

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